All four Western Conference clubs with home-ice advantage were dusted in the first round and Edmonton — the eighth seed — made it all the way to the Stanley Cup final.

The Oilers lost to a Carolina team which finished second in the Eastern Conference, but reached the championship without facing the No.-1 team from Ottawa.

We could see the same thing this time around.

Look at how the top clubs from San Jose and Chicago have fared since the Olympic break. The Blackhawks appear to be getting their game back in order, but don’t seem quite right having blown a few leads, while San Jose continues to struggle with consistency to the point pundits are already saying they’re ripe for the picking when the playoffs begin.

Salut, Adam. If you had a $100 million budget to produce a movie about the career/life of a hockey player, dead or alive, who would that be? Why?

Awesome inquiry, Maxime. I asked some colleagues at the THN compound and here’s what we’ve got:

Glen Metropolit: By now, many observant hockey fans are aware of Metropolit’s early days growing up in the rougher areas of Toronto, as well as the 11 years he spent globetrotting and bus-riding in European and minor pro leagues before he finally landed his first full-time NHL gig in 2006.

However, for everybody else, Metropolit’s story would resonate as a tale that’s a combination of 8 Mile and Rudy. If you could get Jeremy Piven or Jeremy Renner in the title role, I smell an Oscar!

Will Daniel and Henrik Sedin ever receive the respect they deserve? They have been called the Sedin sisters on occasion and I’m sure a few other ‘nicknames’ too, but let’s face it, they are both true superstars in the NHL.

Like Steve Yzerman, who was so often criticized as a player and leader until he won the Stanley Cup, the Sedin twins will probably feel the same wrath until they and their Vancouver Canucks bring home Lord Stanley.

At 29, they are still in their prime and based on their statistics this year, even though both players have played a shortened season due to injury, they have to be put into that elite category of players in the league.

There’s no indication officials will begin tonight’s game between the Predators and Phoenix Coyotes with that kind of introduction, but considering the circumstances it might be appropriate.

Heading into the season, it would have been hard to find a neutral hockey observer who saw much potential in either team.

Nashville was coming off a 10th-place finish in the Western Conference and made little noise during the offseason. Phoenix was coming off a 13th-place finish and was trying to recover from a disastrous offseason that began when former owner Jerry Moyes declared bankruptcy in May.

NEW YORK—Beginning with tonight’s games, the National Hockey League will implement a new rule prohibiting “a lateral, back-pressure or blind-side hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or the principal point of contact.”

Under the new rule, the NHL Hockey Operations Department is empowered to review any such hit for the purpose of Supplemental Discipline.

“We believe this is the right thing to do for the game and for the safety of our players,” Commissioner Gary Bettman said after receiving unanimous approval from the Board of Governors as well as the endorsement of the NHL/NHLPA Competition Committee and the NHLPA Executive Board. “The elimination of these types of hits should significantly reduce the number of injuries, including concussions, without adversely affecting the level of physicality in the game.”

Toronto (March 25, 2010): Statement from NHLPA Executive Board regarding the League’s blindside hits to the head proposal: “We fully support our Competition Committee Members’ endorsement of the League’s proposal to implement supplemental discipline this season for blindside hits to the head.

Our agreement applies to the remainder of the 2009-10 NHL Regular Season, as well as the 2010 Playoffs. This temporary implementation will ensure that the joint NHLPA/NHL Competition Committee will have time to develop and consider a proper and full-time rule, one that includes an on-ice penalty component, this summer. We are encouraged by the League’s recent willingness to explore on-ice rule changes as a means of reducing Player injuries and have no doubt that by working together, a safer working environment can be established for all NHLPA Members.”

When people begin to record non-traditional statistics (beyond goals, assists and penalty minutes), faceoffs are one of the easiest things to record. The puck is dropped and one of two teams takes control. It is a binary event. Even in the most complicated case where the two faceoff-men tie each other up and a third player gains control of the puck, it is clear that there is a winner. Thus it is easy to record statistics for faceoffs.

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